This invention relates generally to a firearm safety lock apparatus, and more particularly, to a trigger blocking structure for rendering a firearm inoperable by unauthorized persons such as adolescents and children.
Thousand of handguns, shotguns and rifles are purchased every year by citizens for use in sporting events, such as hunting or trap and skeet shooting, or for use in home protection. Typically, guns are stored at one""s home or apartment in drawers, closets or even under the bed. While a minority of gun owners have gun safes to store their guns, most guns owners store their guns in unlocked areas of the home accessible to others dwelling there. As such, guns provide a danger to children or adolescents whose curiosity may lead them to find and play with a gun. While adults may believe that guns are safely put away, children and adolescents always seem to find them, and as a result, fatalities and injuries resulting from the accidental discharge of firearms, particularly by children, has become problematic. In response to this rise of this danger, the U.S. Congress and many state legislative bodies throughout the country are considering enacting legislation requiring that each new purchaser of a gun be accompanied by the purchase of a suitable lock.
Conventional gun locking devices typically clamp around the trigger guard of the gun to prevent access to the trigger, such as the devices shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,191,158 xe2x80x9cTrigger Guard for a Firearmxe2x80x9d, U.S. Pat. No. 4,499,681 xe2x80x9cSecurity Device for Firearmsxe2x80x9d, U.S. Pat. No. 4,509,281 xe2x80x9cGun Trigger Lockxe2x80x9d and U.S. Pat. No. 3,624,945 xe2x80x9cUniversal Self-Conforming Trigger Lock for Firearmsxe2x80x9d. Other conventional gun locking devices are designed to immobilize the trigger as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,153,360 xe2x80x9cGun Lockxe2x80x9d. Some gun lock devices have been developed without key locking arrangements to allow quick access to the gun by adults but rendered safe against children who may gain access to the gun, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,221 xe2x80x9cGun Lock Using Manual Pressurexe2x80x9d and U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,119 xe2x80x9cGun Trigger Blocking Structurexe2x80x9d assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
Many of these prior art gun locking devices are constructed to fit only one type of gun, and therefore with the variety of guns available today, lack versatility needed to meet consumer demands. Other gun locking devices, while providing some versatility, have complex structural arrangements with a significant number of parts adding to complexity and cost of the gun lock. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,624,945 discloses a trigger lock with two complementary side elements which are compressed together around the gun trigger guard by a complex internal ratchet lever locking mechanism in the locking assemblage. The side elements carry a plurality of spaced-apart yieldable plungers in proximity to the trigger and guard to prevent shifting or movement of the lock assembly. Another rather complex arrangement is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,499,681 which discloses a fire arm security device with a pair of opposed trigger guard covers, one of the covers having an elongate protruding housing containing a latching portion of a latch member and the other cover formed with an opening in which is disposed a catch member adapted to engage and retain the latching portion when the covers are pressed together. The latch member may be moved out of engagement with the catch member to release the covers by means of a manual actuator which is controlled by a combination lock contained in the cover.
These described gun lock devices require a significant number of parts including complex key locking and latching arrangements. A reliable gun locking arrangement that has less parts and that is easy and cost effective to manufacture, yet provides simplicity and versatility would be an advancement in the gun locking art. It would further be an advantage in the art to provide a gun locking device that can be applied to a number of different types of guns and can be readily removed by an authorized user, but reliably prevents unauthorized use by children or adolescents. The present invention provides such a device.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a gun trigger blocking device that prevents access to the trigger of a gun when the gun is not in use.
Another object of the invention is to provide such a gun trigger blocking device that is adaptable to a variety of handguns, rifles or shotguns.
A further object of is to provide a gun trigger blocking device with few parts that is simple to manufacture, and easy for the user to assemble to a gun.
Still another object is to provide a gun trigger blocking device that prevents tampering by children and adolescents, protecting them from injury to themselves or others.
The invention broadly provides a gun locking arrangement for preventing unauthorized use of a firearm, including two opposed side block halves, one of the side block halves having a latch pin, and the other side block half having a hole for receiving the end portion of the latch pin and further having a latching arrangement for clasping onto the end of the latch pin to hold the side block halves in fixed spaced apart relationship. Plastic or rubber spacers or gaskets placed on the inside of the side block halves take up any space between the side block halves and the trigger guard. At least one of the spacers may include one or more tabs or protrusions which extend inwardly about the trigger or trigger guard to inhibit the trigger from moving. One or more spacers can be used on each side of the trigger guard depending on the particular gun being locked. As an alternative to the use of the spacers to block movement of the trigger dowel, pins selectively positioned between the side blocks may be used to prevent trigger movement.
Additional features of the invention may include a key lock cylinder arrangement mounted in the side block halves for receiving the latch pin, which key lock cylinder arrangement has a pivotal post at one end thereof. The end portion of the latch pin has a post retaining means for receiving and holding the post when key lock cylinder arrangement is turned to its locked position thereby locking the latch pin in the hole of the side block. By rotating the key lock cylinder arrangement to its unlocked position, the post releases the end portion of the latch pin allowing the latch pin to be withdrawn from the hole and the side block halves to be removed from the firearm.
The device is simple to apply to and remove from a gun, but affords reliable security against use of the gun by unauthorized individuals. The plastic spacers also provide a versatile trigger lock that is adaptable to trigger guards and triggers of various shapes, sizes and arrangements providing applicability to a variety of gun types.
The construction and operation of preferred embodiments of a gun trigger blocking device of the present invention may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like components are designated by the same primed or double primed reference numbers.